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BMPs for Commercial Beekeepers

20K views 91 replies 20 participants last post by  wildbranch2007 
#1 ·
As a member of the NY State Pollinator Protection Task Force I, and others, have been tasked with coming up with Best Management Practices, especially related to, but not limited to, Pollinator Protection as it relates to beekeepers.

So if you are a Commercial Beekeeper, what do you think you would consider a Best Management Practice that you would recommend be included in a Pollinator Protection Plan? BMP is defined as "Methods or techniques found to be the most effective and practical means in achieving an objective (such as protecting the pollinators in NY State.) while making the optimum use of one's resources.

This would be as your practices would relate to Protecting Pollinators.


Thank you for taking the time and giving this some thought.
MarkB
 
#42 ·
#61 ·
#44 ·
I didn't hear a big hue and cry about corn planter dust pesticide kills this year. Weather at planting time could have been a factor. I assume the dust problem was reduced significantly due to the proposed practices. Ontario's position on neonics in general is another topic.

Regards Peter
 
#45 ·
Ontario's Pollinator Protection Plan has not yet been approved, has it? It has taken Ontario a year and a half, I believe, to get a final draft of their plan. Seems like NY wants to get theirs (ours?) done in three or four months. We'll see about that. Probably won't be anything final until Jan. 1.
 
#46 · (Edited)
The link below is a good starting point for understanding Ontario's approach to "pollinator protection". I like to give people links so they can read content in context and come to their own conclusions.

http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/pollinator/meeting-reg.htm

The Pollinator Health Strategy is published. see link.

It includes 3 points;

1) Pay beekeepers that have high losses.
2) regulate neonics
3) develop health action plan to address multiple stressors.

Items 1&2 have been addressed. I have not seen anything specific related to the health action plan, except as an overlap with the neonics regulations.

Regards Peter

I found this recent article that I think describes things well.

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2015/08/31/federation-continues-work-on-a-complete-pollinator-health-strategy
 
#47 ·
That's what I am mean. Planter dust has been addressed through changing the flowable. That's a BMP that the industry sunk it's teeth into.
It's the regulated use of the neonics is what I'm getting at. BMP's imposed on farmers from beekeeper lead government policy. How is that action working out?
 
#50 ·
Ian, I am an observer in the neonic discussion. I have no skin in the game. Retired hobbyist with 10 hives on a small fruit farm (not my farm) located in a green belt around Ottawa.

The regulations started implementation in June/15. Too early to tell what will happen. May never be able to determine if regulations improved or made the situation worse . There are too many variables.

Regulation is not new for Ontario. There is a ban on "cosmetic" pesticide use. As a home owner I cannot buy whole classes of pesticides for use on my lawn or garden. "Organic" pesticides have replaced the chemicals with varying degrees of success. Life goes on.

Regards Peter
 
#53 · (Edited)
The regulations started implementation in June/15. Too early to tell what will happen. ... There are too many variables
Exactly.
BMP's imposed on farmers in a product blamed for colony death, which may haven nothing to do with colony health.
Here is one example of a task force helping to implement policy. They developed a pollinator health strategy, and implemented policy heavy on the neonic issue...
Notice how the rest of the country distanced themselves from that same strategy ?
 
#69 ·
I am confident this is done with best of intentions but I'm with Harry on this one. I do have one suggestion for the government on a BMP plan. Stop wasting my tax money by having a people have busy work and meetings and instead let me keep some of that money to spend on learning what works best in my apiary, having time to share it with others. 10 years ago IPM was the bomb, now it's not??????. Simplify my sales tax record keeping, state and local tax bookkeeping, and the ton of paperwork and time I have to spend on so many nights and weekends keeping track of every little thing we do. If we are going to have state inspections, great, let's inspect everyone because me taking care of my bees doesn't help when some guy with 3 hives full of Foul Brood and mites down the road who is doing a hands off beekeeping experiment infects my hives, the wild pollinator populations and other responsible beekeepers. I take care of my hives because if I don't, I, my sons family, my NYC manager, our market staff, our Value added products people, don't eat and live inside, so good beekeeping is My BMP every single day. Different from everyone else because with bees it is about every little thing. In short, between the various tax deparements, state inspections, DOT, FDA, USDA, Various state and local codes a ton of my time is wasted on e-mails, record keeping, letters, opening mail, online research about forms and filling out forms, all time that could be better spent in my bee yards. I guess simply, the best BMP would be for the Government to get off our back by finding a way to streamline any process we are required to complete and reduce the time and cost. So that would be my suggestion.
 
#78 ·
Yeah, now that you point that out, I agree.
My point was even with per capita consumption staying the same, the number of people has increased.
So more honey is being consumed and the additional honey is imported honey, and the gap widens.
The value added products that include honey are fairly new to the market place and likely not included in the consumption numbers yet.
 
#80 ·
I find that a certain amount of Winter Die Back is of benefit to me. That way the equipment that I need to make replacement splits and increase is right there where I need it. So my best management practice is to do the best I can to get as many hives through the Winter alive and then roll with the punches. I only want to run around 500 or 600 anyway.

I'm just a 500 hive hobby beekeeper compared to some of my friends. So what do I know?
 
#83 ·
T O comeS

Along with all the "doom & gloom", & good comments here,
Just remember whatever is written down as "a good idea for voluntary compliance" can be adopted by any municipality, or state government as their ordinance. BOOM, now it is the law
( I hear the UN warming up the black helicopters to come get us : P. )
If you do not want it to become the law, please don't write it down. After all, what could possibly go wrong... CE
 
#82 ·
SQKCRK, per your post #25, please explain to me what the "experts" have to say about the needs of honeybees vs. all pollinators.

I can not think of one insecticide that would benefit one group and harm the other.

I can not think of one way that adding forage would harm either group. It might not help one group, but harm to the other is doubtful.

I can not think of any way, now that we know that flowers can transmit pathogens, that controlling disease in honeybees is not helpful to native pollinators, and vise versa.

I reassert that rather than having government employees try to monitor native pollinator health, they just ask us how easy it is to keep bees alive, assuming due diligence controlling mites and disease, and corrected for weather effects.

Crazy as always, Roland
 
#87 ·
Ian, I am afraid that since I am the President of the Empire State Honey Producers Association, Inc, NY State's statewide beekeeping organization things are not that simple. I will, to the best of my ability, put forward the point of view which the Board of Directors and Officers want me to put forward. I am not free to speak my mind if it varies from what is deemed ESHPA's point of view.
 
#92 ·
an article about the goings on in Mass. with the pollination protection plan. really seems the same attack is being run in most states.

But Tabit, Jessel and other Massachusetts beekeepers say they became more outspoken as they began to realize that supposedly bee-friendly bills went against their interests as guardians of bees.

County beekeeper associations across the state have organized hundreds of their members to send letters to state legislators opposing a bill introduced earlier this year by state Rep. Keiko Orrall, R-Lakeville, a participant in the Farm Bureau pollinator meetings. Orrall’s bill, entitled “An Act to Ensure Proper Stewardship of Honeybees by the Commonwealth,” would establish an advisory committee to evaluate the state’s beekeeping regulations and policies. Among other concerns, beekeepers oppose the makeup of the committee, a majority of whose members would not be beekeepers. In addition, the beekeepers that would serve on the committee would be chosen by the state.

The Worcester County Beekeepers Association argues in its statement against the bill that “farmers, who frequently apply pesticides that harm honeybees, should not be tasked with making laws that govern beekeeping and the apiary inspection process. ... This is a conflict of interest.”
So Tabit’s interest was piqued when she heard earlier this year that the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation was working to draft the outline of a “pollinator stewardship plan” for the state. Responding to concerns about the loss of honeybees, which are vital to the pollination of many crops, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year gave states the task of coming up with individual plans for protecting bees and other pollinating insects.

But when Tabit and other beekeepers asked to attend the Farm Bureau’s invitation-only meetings on the Massachusetts plan, their interest was spurned. Tabit said she was told the group was “not ready” for her to participat
http://www.hillcountryobserver.com/2015news/dec2015bees.htm
 
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